Officials Should Control The Ball

The New England Patriots sure have a way of stirring up controversy and antagonizing the NFL. For most of us, their shenanigans provide a dose of humor in a sport with multi-millionaire players who think that they are way too important.

However, while the current angst is now straining my funny bone with the notion of Deflategate, my suggestion would be to look to our national pastime for a solution. In that game, the home plate umpire is responsible for checking on the condition of the baseball and replacing it with a new ball when required. The same process could be adopted by the NFL, whereby only a designated on-field official would supply the game ball and replace it if required.

On the sidelines, each team could use whatever ball they desired, but only on the sidelines. This seems to me to be a doable solution and would allow the NFL to attend to its other problems, which involve actual criminal behaviors.